Identical twin culinary explorers! We’re 9 years old and have loved everything about food and entertaining since we were toddlers. As kids we feel you shouldn’t just eat what some people call kid food, kids should have the opportunity to eat healthy, beautiful grown up style food. Kids and grown ups sharing and cooking together the same wonderful foods. It’s fun and tasty, and while you’re cooking and entertaining you learn so much. Its time well spent with your culinary grown up helper. We have learned from a young age to love all different kinds of healthy foods. We want to spread our passion for cooking to other kids. Kids can be so creative in the kitchen; it is sort of like art.
We would see interesting food on TV or at the market we wanted to try. One of our outings when we were little was going to our local farmers market. Our Mom would let us pick out some fruits and veggies that we found pretty or unusual, that maybe we had not tried before. We would take it home and we would help her prepare it different ways. Usually we loved it, occasionally we decided it wasn’t our favorite but the point is that we tried everything! Our Dad is a wonderful cook, we love learning his family recipes. As we have gotten older we even do reports on the fruits and veggies we cook. We learn interesting facts about them like cocoa beans were once used as currency, when they were worn out they were ground up and used for a drink.
Some kids have activities like soccer or piano, we have cooking! Cooking is so much fun, we are so fortunate to have grown ups in our life that share their cooking knowledge with us. We have even taken local cooking classes. Meeting new chefs and talking with them about their cooking style is so great. We like to tour restaurants and take pictures of their big kitchens! We especially like to plan menus for parties, shop for tasty ingredients, cook with our grown up helper and invite family and friends to share our grown up style food.
At twinchefs.net we share our recipes, cooking videos, food reports, and party ideas with kids and grown ups! Brainstorming recipes, finding ways to make it tasty, fun, and beautiful are some of our favorites. With the help of our Mom, Dad, and others who inspire us we get to share our recipes and ideas with you on our website. We want to be the youngest kids ever to go to culinary school. We eventually want to open restaurants and even have our own TV show. In the mean time visit us at twinchefs.net and see how kids can love grown up style food and parents can be inspired to be a kid again! Just remember to bring your culinary helper along on all of our adventures!
Recipe: Breakfast Polenta
Most people think that polenta is for lunch or dinner, but we also love it for breakfast! Turns out syrup on polenta is exceedingly tasty! Just add creamy cheese and berries and our Breakfast Polenta (video) recipe turns into tutti-frutti goodness.
Shortcut: If you’re short on time you can purchase readymade polenta at most grocery stores. Cut the polenta into
circles and your ready to brown them.
Ingredients
1 cup polenta
1/4 cup onion (finely chopped)
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup fromage blanc, soft cows milk cheese
(you can substitute with plain greek yogurt)
1/4 cup unsalted almonds
1 cup blueberries
1 cup rasberries
pure maple syrup
mint (optional for garnish)
Directions
This recipe requires a grown-up helper! Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium pot, bring 4 cups water to a boil. While the water is heating, on the stove top, heat a medium sauce pan that can be placed in the oven. Put in 1 tablespoon olive oil, then add the onions. Only cook onions stirring with a wooden spoon for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the polenta and salt to the onions, cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring with your wooden spoon and do not let it brown. Have your grown-up helper pour the boiling water into the polenta, stir once and put in the oven. Cook the polenta for 30 minutes stirring at least 2 to 3 times during the cooking process. Have your grown-up pour the polenta into a heat proof dish approximately 6” x 6” and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. (Polenta can be made up to 1 day ahead.) After it has cooled turn the container of polenta upside down onto a cutting board. Using approximately a 2 inch biscuit cutter, cookie cutter or similar size open end of a glass or cup, press out circles of polenta as close together as you can. Heat a medium size non stick saute pan to high, put in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Be very careful with the hot oil, have your grown-up helper place the polenta circles skin size down into the pan. Cook them until golden brown, you can see the edges starting to turn golden. Turn the polenta circles to the other side and cook until golden. Remove polenta with tongs onto a paper towel lined plate to remove any excess oil. Place 1 or 2 polenta circles onto a small plate or bowl. With a spoon put on desired amount of fromage blanc or greek yogurt on top of the polenta. Then add some of your berries, almonds, and a sprig of mint, and finally the syrup. Serves 4 to 5 people. We change up this recipe by choosing different fruits like orange segments or banana slices! This recipe is especially great to serve for brunch; try it buffet style and let everyone make their own tutti-frutti masterpiece!